Sangai tourism festival

Why in news?

  • The annual Sangai Festival was celebrated in northeastern state of Manipur. It is grandest festival of state named after state animal, Sangai, the critically endangered brow-antlered deer found only in Manipur.
  • The festival is labelled as the grandest festival of the State today and helps promote Manipur as a world class tourism destination. Every edition of the festival showcases the tourism potential of the state in the field of Arts & Culture, Handloom, Handicrafts, Indigenous Sports, Cuisine, Music and Adventure sports of the state etc.
  • Sangai Tourism Festival:

    • The ‘Festival’ is named after the State animal, Sangai, the brow-antlered deer found only in Manipur.
    • It was started in 2010 and has grown over years into big platform for Manipur to showcase its rich tradition and culture to the world.
    • The focus areas of festival reflect Manipur’s rich cultural heritage and love for art of various tribes inhabiting state. It also showcases ‘RasLeela’, state’s classical dance form along with various other folk dance performances like Bamboo dance, Maibi dance, Kabui Naga dance, Lai Haraobadance,etc.
    • Indigenous sports will also be a major highlight of the State’s biggest tourism festival this year. Manipur’s famous martial arts- Thang Ta (a combination Spear & Sword skills), Yubi-Lakpi (a game played with greased coconut like rugby), MuknaKangjei (a game that combines hockey and wrestling), and SagolKangjei- Modern Polo (believed to have evolved in Manipur) will all form part of the festival.

    Sangai Deer:

    • Sangai Deer (Rucervuseldii) also called the Dancing Deer. It is the state animal of Manipur.
    • Once it was found across Manipur Valley in abundant now only its remaining natural habitat is found in KeibulLamjao National Park (KLNP), only floating national park in the world.
    • It is listed as critically endangered species by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). KLNP is floating biomass in Manipur’s Loktak Lake.
    • It is known around the world for its unique composition which is made up of biomass vegetation (locally called phumdis) that floats on surface of lake.
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